SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 3/15/2019
7:37 AM
My Worship Time Focus:
PT-2 “How Christ Won the Right to Give
Gifts”
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Ephesians
4:8-10
Message of the verses: “8 Therefore it
says, "WHEN HE ASCENDED ON HIGH,
HE LED CAPTIVE A HOST OF CAPTIVES, AND
HE GAVE GIFTS TO MEN." 9 (Now this expression, "He
ascended," what does it mean except that He also had descended into the
lower parts of the earth? 10 He who descended is Himself also He who ascended
far above all the heavens, so that He might fill all things.)”
We
want to pick up by looking at the phrase “When He ascended on high” as this
depicts a triumphant Christ returning from battle on earth back into the glory
of the heavenly city with trophies of His great victory.
I
want to look at several verses in Colossians to help set the stage of what we
will be talking about next: “13 When you
were dead in your transgressions and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He made
you alive together with Him, having forgiven us all our transgressions, 14 having canceled out the
certificate of debt consisting of decrees against us, which was hostile to us;
and He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross. 15 When He had disarmed the rulers
and authorities, He made a public display of them, having triumphed over
them through Him.” I want to
focus in on verse fifteen as this helps us to see that Jesus Christ conquered
Satan, sin, and death, and by that great and wonderful victory we see that He ‘led
captive a host of captives, who once were prisoners of the enemy, however not
are returned to God and the people who belong to Him even though they are
naturally in Satan’s grasp and would have remained there if it were not for
Christ by His death and also His resurrection made provision to lead them into
the captivity of His kingdom into which they had been called by sovereign
election as seen in Ephesians 1:4 “before the foundation of the world.’” The following verses from Acts are a vision
that Paul received while at Corinth. “9 And the Lord said to Paul in the night
by a vision, "Do not be afraid any longer, but go on speaking and
do not be silent; 10 for I am with you,
and no man will attack you in order to harm you, for I have many people in this city.’” Notice the highlighted portion of verse ten
as this shows us that there are many people in Corinth who belonged to the
Lord, and yet at that time had not been saved, but would be through the
ministry of Paul and his helpers. Let us
now look at John 10:16 “"I have other sheep, which are not of this fold; I must bring them also,
and they will hear My voice; and
they will become one flock with one shepherd.” John 11:51-52 “51 Now he did not say this on
his own initiative, but being high priest that year, he prophesied that Jesus
was going to die for the nation, 52 and
not for the nation only, but in order that He might also gather together into
one the children of God who are scattered abroad.” One more from Acts 15:14-18 “14 Symeon has
shown how in the first place God decided to choose a people from among the
nations who should bear his name. 15 This is in full agreement with what the
prophets wrote, as in this scripture: 16 After these things I will return, And I will build
again the tabernacle of David, which is fallen; And I will build again the
ruins thereof, And I will set it up: 17 That the residue of men may seek after
the Lord, And all the
gentiles, upon whom my name is called, Saith the Lord who maketh these
things 18 known from the
beginning of the world” (Phillips).
John
MacArthur writes “Upon arriving in heaven, ‘He gave gifts to men.’ Paul here uses yet another term for ‘gifts’ (domata) to express the comprehensiveness
of this gracious provision. Like a triumphant
conqueror distributing the spoils to his subjects, so Christ takes the trophies
He has won and distributes them in His kingdom.
After His ascension came all the gifts empowered by the Holy Spirit
(John 7:39; 14:12; Acts 2:33). When the
Savior was exalted on high, He sent the Spirit (Acts 1:8, and with the coming
of the Spirit (Acts 1:8), and with the coming of the Spirit also came His gifts
to the church. Before Paul identifies
the gifts he has in mind, he first gives a brief parenthetical explanation of
the analogy he has just used.”
We
will continue to look at these verses in our next SD.
Spiritual meaning for my life today: Having the gift of the Holy Spirit in my life
causes me to be able to serve the Lord as the Spirit helps me to better
understand the Scriptures.
My Steps of Faith for Today: Trust the
Spirit of God to help me to better understand Romans 12:3.
Today’s quotation “If I take care of my
character, my reputation will take care of itself” (D. L. Moody).”
3/15/2019 8:22 AM
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